Sunday, 18 October 2009

On 17 October 2009 Czech Happenings reported a new SANEP poll, which indicated that President Vaclav Klaus was rapidly losing support for his rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Some 58 percent ─ up 14 percentage points from the beginning of October ─ were of the view that Klaus’ attitude was harming the Czech Republic's position within the EU and that he should sign the Lisbon Treaty instantly.

The recorded result explains the earlier SANEP poll and it is in line with the STEM agency poll we mentioned in yesterday’s blog post “EU Lisbon Treaty: Czech polls stink”. This makes the contradictory Median agency poll ─ hugely supportive of Klaus’ obstruction ─ look even more of an inexplicable aberration.

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Klaus had cast the role of the heroic defender of the national interest for himself, but the Czechs increasingly saw him as an embarrassment. What could he do?